For the first time since the United States dropped the atomic bomb on Japan 65 years ago, today the U.S. ambassador to Japan will attend the official commemoration ceremony at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial. The U.S. ambassador has always declined the annual invitation, but this year is different. President Barack Obama decided to acknowledge the event with the presence of a high-level dignitary. As State Department spokesman Philip Crowley explained, Ambassador John Roos will be there "to express respect for all the victims of World War II."

Gene Tibbetsthe son of Brig. Gen. Paul W. Tibbets Jr., the pilot who dropped the bomb on Hiroshimacalled the Obama administration's decision "an unsaid apology." Whether or not that's the case, by saying "all the victims" Mr. Crowley raises the specter of moral equivalence, a problem that's grown worse over the years when it comes to judging right and wrong during World War II and throughout history.

Has the government of Japan ever apologized to the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki?

It carries the onus to do so. We do not.

Japan forced war upon the region and us. It refused to back off and return to normal relations with all governmental bodies outside it’s borders. It refused to return land without being forced to every step of the way.

Obama, the man-child, doesn’t understand this. He doesn’t have the mental faculties required to comprehend the truth of it.

I’m sorry that it took us so long to win. I’m sorry that so many good men had to die because you guys bombed Pearl Harbor. I’m sorry that you all failed to respect and value human life. I’m sorry that you enjoyed experimenting on POWs. I’m sorry that you put brutality above courage. I’m sorry that your leaders were so stubborn as to require drastic measures to save lives.

I am not sorry that so many lives, American and Japanese were saved due to the war ending when it did.

Obama has no concept of World War II. I have 10 times more knowledge, if not 100x, than the very president of the United States, about this topic...Which doesnt say much, but still is rather sickening. I heard him bloviating on WWII once, and clearly he was winging it with the help of notes. Empty suit. Knows not America, nor our history. Ignorant so and so.

24
posted on 08/06/2010 9:23:01 AM PDT
by AmericanInTokyo
(Donating to FREE REPUBLIC will allow you to "freep" with a clear conscience...)

I know that Master Chief Duntno feels really bad about the Japs they killed while he was in the Pacific in WWll ... he used to say that he wishes they could have killed a lot more and a lot faster ... especially the cowardly monkeys that murdered all of those boys at Pearl ... his destroyer was about six days out ...

The Japanese Government has apologized to China on several occasions, but I'm not certain of the specific wording of the apologies.

Safe to say, these apologies are entirely for foreign consumption, and the actions of Japanese troops during the brutal episodes of WWII are not mentioned when the country's history is discussed. Japan prefers to play the much more satisfying role of victim.

Every December 7th, I still have the intense memory recall of riding in the car on December 7th, 1961. We were listening to a radio program re-playing the news reports about the attack on Pearl Harbor, 800 hours, December 7, 1941. As we were listening I glanced over at my Dad to see tears running down his face. Twenty years after that terrible morning it still affected my father as though it were just yesterday.

In 1986 I lived across the street from a man who survived the Bataan Death March. He barely spoke of what happened, his nightmares were horrendous. At that time I was going to work at 3:00am or 4:00am, barely a morning would go by that I saw a light on in that house.

Now, tell why and what for are these idiots apologizing?

42
posted on 08/06/2010 9:51:26 AM PDT
by OldBullrider
(if yur hurt, rub some dirt on it, and get back to work)

It’s tragic when so many noncombatants are killed as were in WWII. The fault, however, lies with their own governments. People who cannot or will not control their own political fortunes will suffer, as they always have throughout history, whether they live in Japan, Germany, Italy, Uganda, Haiti, China, Cuba or Iran. It is NOT the fault of those countries who eventually have to step in to control the savage aggression of their tyrannical leaders and war machines. Every single person on this earth must realize that that the most immediate and serious threat to their security is THEIR OWN GOVERNMENT, despite the pathological lying and flowery rhetoric they endure year after year.

My Father was at Guadacanal, Tarawa and Saipan. He would roll over in his grave if he knew we had apologized to the Japs. He always told me the Japs killed more innocent people than the Germans ever thought about killing.

Disclaimer:
Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual
posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its
management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the
exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.